Home phone needs replacing - which one to get?

[petethegeek]

The cheapo Siemens Gigaset set which I bought some time ago is finally giving up on me. The handsets have always been prone to regular rebooting - particularly after automated cold calls - and sound reproduction out of one of them has now become badly distorted.

I originally picked it up as an end of line from Argos whilst I attempted to navigate the minefield of choices for cordless phones, something I still haven't managed to do.

Requirements are pretty modest and straightforward; namely two handsets with decent quality and range, along with a base station and standard answering machine.

So... to get me started in my search I would greatly appreciate any recommendations or suggestions you may have.

[aris]

Gigasets are supposed to be the best. Check this:

 

http://www.cordless-phones.uk.com/blog/ligo/reviews/top-10-best-cordless-phones.htm

 

There is also a base unit called the n300a IP which will allow VOIP/sip support from your gigaset handset.

[petethegeek]

Thanks for that link. I'm not too sure on the independence of those reviews, but Siemens Gigaset certainly looks to be the way to go. Trouble is, given my modest requirements I'm still spoilt for choice and I may well simply continue to procrastinate my researches and get a Gigaset A220A that Argos are currently selling off for £19.99 as another stop gap.

That IP capable base set looks quite interesting. I can remember playing with IP telephony when it was first emerging, over ten years ago now, with a softphone and a sipgate account - I even considered buying a Fritz!Box. However, the rise of mobile telephony, along with the falling cost of landline calls and the emergence of social messaging and Skype appear to have consigned consumer level pure IP telephony to something of a technological cul de sac.

[aris]

Not at all - VOIP is yet another tool in the arsenal. I use several voip providers - including sipgate (get a free incoming phone number & voice mail), plus one of the Dellmont voip companies (they used to be known as Betamax, and Finerea). For 10 euros of credit, I get a few months of free calls to a list of countries, and after that 1p/min. And the end of the 'freecall' period, I still have the 10 euros of credit to spend on calls as I choose. The specific service I use is www.voipdiscount.com - but they have many different brands. You can see a comparison chart of the services & charges here: http://backsla.sh/betamax

[Ca$h Money]

you can't go wrong.

 

 

http://www.robertopiecollection.com/application/products/teleph/tel4gb.asp

 

 

 

digital phone are good right up to the point you have a power cut.

[aris]

Those old phones are pure class. I would love to put some VOIP electronics inside one :-)